Residents describe chaotic scene after east-side bank robbery

Share this:

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

CLEVELAND -- Three young men are behind bars, after Cleveland police say they held up an east side bank, then led police on a chase to the city's west side.

"I was in there ironing my husband's clothes, and I just saw the guy with the dreads, he just took off running, and running behind the yard, jumping the fence, trying to get up on top of the garage next door," said Wanda Blackmon.

Blackmon says she was startled by what she saw in her west side Cleveland neighborhood Tuesday afternoon. Police arrested three bank robbery suspects near West 117th and Western at the end of the high-speed chase.

"The police, they pulled their guns, you know...'you better get down,' 'get down right now,' 'freeze!' And he just stopped and they got him," Blackmon said.

Cleveland police say around 1:00 p.m., the three armed men robbed the KeyBank near East 152nd Street and St. Clair Avenue. Police say they jumped into a getaway car and led officers on a high-speed chase through East Cleveland and onto Interstate 90. Investigators say they led officers across town until they ditched the car on West 117th and were captured.

Police from Cleveland and East Cleveland were involved as well as Cuyahoga County Sheriff's deputies and agents from the FBI.

"I saw police just flying up, just flying up...the FBI, everybody just flying up all at once, with every single gun they had, drawn," she said.

"They told us do not have our kids outside because something's dangerous, they can't find it," she said.

She also says she is thankful police were able to catch the suspects quickly.

"Even when I was coming outside, one of the guys said, 'go back in the house, go back in the house for your safety.' I loved the way that they handled it; they handled it professionally," said Blackmon.